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A review by racheladventure
The Best American Essays 2012 by Robert Atwan, David Brooks
4.0
This was a really great anthology. I read it for content but also for models for essay writing. My overarching takeaway from this collection is that the essay form can break the general creative writing rule of “show don’t tell” and the single, almost short-story like template some beginners fall into. Not all essays follow that structure. The essay was “traditionally written on topics,” and what made them (and continues to make them) distinct? Reflection (Intro: pg IX)
My Favorite Essays I Recommend from this anthology:
1. The Crazy State of Psychiatry (really made me think and question assumptions about antidepressants)
2. A Beauty (worth playing with form, an interesting in-depth look of a complex character)
3. How Doctors Die (unique, real-time tale about dangers of modern medicine keeping us alive but miserable)
4. Vanishing Act (specific interesting example to explain broad commentary on lost talent, etc. Well done)
5. Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here? (great musing on secondary education)
6. Farther Away (great insight on grief and a sneak peek into the personal life of David Foster Wallace)
7. Dr. Don (does interesting things with dialogue doing most of the heavy-lifting, worth experimenting with)
8. Getting Schooled (as an urban public school teacher, AMEN. I too worry about my kids not wanting or liking reading and what that means. Cool perspective, mostly told in flashback and comparing past and present)
9. My Father/My Husband (brilliant, best one in the series. So beautiful and sad and real)
10. Other Women (enjoyed the different perspective on feminism)
11. Outlaw (awesome, lots at stake, happening in real-time, using self as a way to explore immigration issue)
My Favorite Essays I Recommend from this anthology:
1. The Crazy State of Psychiatry (really made me think and question assumptions about antidepressants)
2. A Beauty (worth playing with form, an interesting in-depth look of a complex character)
3. How Doctors Die (unique, real-time tale about dangers of modern medicine keeping us alive but miserable)
4. Vanishing Act (specific interesting example to explain broad commentary on lost talent, etc. Well done)
5. Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here? (great musing on secondary education)
6. Farther Away (great insight on grief and a sneak peek into the personal life of David Foster Wallace)
7. Dr. Don (does interesting things with dialogue doing most of the heavy-lifting, worth experimenting with)
8. Getting Schooled (as an urban public school teacher, AMEN. I too worry about my kids not wanting or liking reading and what that means. Cool perspective, mostly told in flashback and comparing past and present)
9. My Father/My Husband (brilliant, best one in the series. So beautiful and sad and real)
10. Other Women (enjoyed the different perspective on feminism)
11. Outlaw (awesome, lots at stake, happening in real-time, using self as a way to explore immigration issue)